Since we both love the outdoors, the exploration of Parks and Forests seemed like a good way to experience something in each state and (hopefully) also highlight some of the best natural features along the way.

After going out of our way to drive through the third National Forest, we decided that wasn’t going to be an enjoyable or worthwhile part of our quest, and focused on the states and parks.

By the Numbers:

The dates:
We drove into state number 48, Maine, on May 22, 2017 (721 days after starting) and into park number 47, Acadia, the next morning.

On our two year adventure-versary (June 2, 2017 – 732 days) we were settled at family’s house – not where we started, but at a good finishing point in order to visit and take a bit of a travel break.

It took us about 450 days to return to our jumping-off point in Western Kentucky for a brief visit with our parents before returning to Michigan for a friend’s wedding.

Each of these positions took about 3 months (though the two positions at The Bremerton Letterpress Company were at the same time), so we spent about 9 months of the journey stationary due to work commitments (roughly 37% of our time).

Travel Numbers:

Over the course of the journey we’ve used 4 different vehicles: Lady Galapagos – our trusty RV, the motorcycle, a brief stint in the CarVee – our PT Cruiser, and lucked into the use of a friend’s pickup while he was out of the area working.

While these look like exact numbers, they aren’t quite. I know that there some more expenses that go under the CarVee maintenance, as well as some for the truck, but these are what I recorded.

Other financials:

One of the most common questions we receive is some form of “are you rich?” (though never worded so directly). The basic idea is that we worked and saved up some, traveled, paused to work and add more to the gas fund, and traveled more. If you’re interested in more details, here’s the break down of the last two years:

including RV

no RV

Total

$67,600.16

$48,600.16

Food

$10,422.29

15.42%

21.44%

RV Fuel

$7,476.93

11.06%

15.38%

Other

$6,318.36

9.35%

13.00%

Restaurant

$4,080.56

6.04%

8.40%

Campgrounds

$3,780.52

5.59%

7.78%

RV Maint

$3,746.55

5.54%

7.71%

House

$3,220.13

4.76%

6.63%

Cell Phone

$3,120.00

4.62%

6.42%

Coffee

$1,719.05

2.54%

3.54%

Entertainment

$842.82

1.25%

1.73%

Motorcycle Maint

$783.64

1.16%

1.61%

Motorcycle Gas

$737.82

1.09%

1.52%

Propane

$587.20

0.87%

1.21%

Car Maintenance

$584.11

0.86%

1.20%

Car Gas

$529.09

0.78%

1.09%

Truck gas

$468.79

0.69%

0.96%

Laundry

$182.30

0.27%

0.38%

RV

$19,000.00

28.11%

this doesn’t include insurance on car, RV, or motorcycle!

Was it worth it?

Absolutely! We wouldn’t trade the experiences, time together, or knowledge gained for anything!